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Chapter Seven
Cole
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Zoe look so confused. All night, her expression fluttered between pure joy and worry. She was smiling so big as she cooked with Buckee and laughed at Ash’s insistence on being her personal taste tester. Then she looked so conflicted whenever she heard Zander’s laughs with Sunny and Everly or his squeals from getting piggyback rides from Ash and Kai.
I can tell that Zoe honestly believes something will go horribly wrong if she and Zander grow too attached to us. It makes me wonder about their past stability. How many people have come and gone from their lives that Zoe has such little faith in me? Or in anyone, for that matter. Even when Cali invites her to the next girls’ night with the Woods’s brothers ' wives, she flickers from excited to reserved, shyly promising to check her schedule.
More than ever I want to show her how safe she and Zander are with me, with us Foresters. That night in the tub, I swore I’d be her armor, the biggest Russian doll whose embrace she and Zander can rest comfortably inside of.
All night she leaned into me, whenever she laughed, grew shy or got nervous so maybe my plan to keep her in my arms forever is working.
When we get home with an extra slab of whiskey, brown sugar ribs, and a sleeping Zander, I realize that Zoe and I need to discuss our own sleeping arrangements as I tuck him into bed. I don’t want to sleep apart from her on the couch anymore and given our chemistry at breakfast that lingered straight into nightfall, I don’t think she wants me too either. At the ranch she’d touched me just as much as I did her, seemingly desperate to keep a physical connection between us.
That aside, how’s it going to look when CPS comes for the home visit and it’s obvious that we aren’t sleeping together? What if Zander spills the beans in typical kid word-vomit fashion? They’ll think he’s in an unstable environment or that there are already problems brewing in our marriage.
Zoe seems to have the same idea because she walks to the threshold of the bedroom, gazing at me over her shoulder. Before she can cross it though, I scoop her into my arms and she lets out a surprised yelp.
“I was supposed to do that last night,” I whisper against her ear. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to.”
She swallows, wrapping her arms around my neck and boldly presses a kiss to my lips. “And now?”
I grip her tighter, my cock already brushing the underside of her ass. “I’m sure that you feel this too—this deep connection, the rightness of us together.
I make it two steps toward the bed when Zoe’s phone buzzes with notifications. Data on the road is spotty given the thickets of trees, so I’m used to the bombardment of messages from clients and my employees at the lumber mill once I reach wifi. Zoe’s phone barely pings though given her time off from work.
The rarity of it is the only reason she breaks eye contact with me to check her missed notifications.
As I sit on the bed, with Zoe on my lap, I know immediately that something’s wrong. She presses the phone to her ear and her eyes go wide. “No no no no no...”
“What’s wrong?” She’s stiff as a board.
“I... I got a voicemail from the case worker assigned to us. CPS is sending someone out tomorrow. I’m not ready.” She gazes at two duffel bags of her clothes still stacked in the corner. “It’s too soon and what if they know this isn’t real? What if we get in trouble for lying?? What if—”
She’s working herself into such a frenzy that her face is damn near turning purple from a lack of oxygen.
“Hey. Breathe with me,” I say calmly, placing my hand over her heart. “That’s it. In through your mouth 1 2 3 4. Now hold for 4. Exhale 1 2 3 4. Hold. Good. In 1 2 3 4. Out 1 2 3 4.”
As her jumping breasts beneath my palm eases with the slowing of her heart rate, she visibly releases some tension in her shoulders. As she deflates, I hold her tighter, marveling in the way she puts her full body weight against me like she’s laying all her problems on me too.
I told her I could take it, and I meant it.
“Okay baby. Let’s try this again. If it gets to be too much then just squeeze my hand. I got you. Now what did the voicemail say exactly?”
“They said that they’re stopping by tomorrow. I know it’s because they’re making updated notes on Zander’s file.” She gulps.
“Notes that will only shine a positive light on you as his guardian. They’ll see that his glasses prescription is up to date, as is his last dental appointment and physical. Things you made sure you got accomplished by selling your truck.”
“But I still lost our home in the process.”
“And gained a better one. They’ll see that this is a good home for Zander. One where he has a secure yard to play in and his own room with a closet stuffed full of clean, weather appropriate attire and toys you provided.”
She perks up a fraction at this, pride swirling in her eyes before she nudges her shoulder into my chest. “Then they’ll open the fridge and see all the fruits and vegetables you’ve stocked it with.”
“I think you mean, they’ll see all the ferocious fruit dinosaurs that have invaded the shelves.”
Her smile is short lived as worry creases her brow again.
I grasp her chin and tip her face to look up at me. “They’ll see how hard you work to provide for him, Zoe. Everything will be okay and no one is taking him away from you. From us. I’ll make damn sure of it.”
